Coupling for poles or shafts.



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

EUGENE CHILDS, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO TRIMONT MAN-V UFACTURING COMPANY, Oli SAME PLACE AND PORTLAND, MAINE.

COUPLING FOR POLES OR SHAFTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 672,871, dated April 23, 1901. Application filed December 7, 1900. Serial No. 38,993. (No model.)

To all whom t 'may concern..- ling the spring at the end carrying the wedge Be it known that I, EUGENE CHILDS, a citimay be substantially of .the width of the zen of the United States, residing at Boston, wedge, and the length of the'spring is so recounty of Suffolk, State of Massachusetts, duced that its end farthest from the wedge 55 have invented an Improvement in Couplings when the coupling is operative falls short of for Shafts or Poles of Carriages, of which the the end of the shaft. The free end of the following description, in connection with the spring is shown as bent to form a hook to euaccompanying drawings, is a specification, gage a loose bail or loop embracing a neck of like letters on the drawings representing like the shaft member, said neck being located 6o 1o parts.' between the eye of the shaft member embrac- This invention has for its object the proing the stud or pintle and a shoulder which duction of an antirattlingcoupling which may defines the position of the inner end of the be readily uncoupled from the carriage when shaft. The neck has a seat to maintain the the latter is not in use or for changing fromv bail or loop in its operative position and a 65 shafts to pole, or vice versa. cast-olf space to receive ears of said bail or The coupling herein shown is composed of loop when in its inoperative position. The two main members, one to be afxed to the bail is at all times connected with the shaft axle of the carriage and the other to the shaft member, so that the spring connected with the or pole, one of said members having a draft-4 bail is always at the shaft member ready for 7o zo stud and the other a hook partially embracuse.

ing the same, the space between a part of said Figure l in side elevation shows one of my stud and the inner side of the hook receiving improved couplings applied to an axle and a wedge having a connected spring to force` shaft; Fig. 2, a like view with the couplingsaid Wedge snugly in place, the wedge taking shaft and axle in section. Fig. 3 shows the 7 5 up and compensating for wear of the parts wedge and spring in their inoperative posiand preventing rattling. i tions; and Eig. et, a section in theline', Fig. 2. The invention herein to be described lies In the drawings, A represents part of an chieliy in the construction of the spring conaxle, B part of a shaft, or it may be part of nected with the wedge and the manner of cona pole, and C an axle-clip, all of usual con- Sc 3o necting said spring with the member of the struction. The clip enters holes in and is coupling attached to the shaft or pole. Prior used to confine in position the axle member to this invention the free end of the spring D of the coupling, it having, as shown,a stud has been made to enter sidewise a slot in a or pintle d, the other or shaft member- D of fastening device projecting below the under the coupling having an eye d', slotted to en- 85 side of the member connected with the shaft gage said stud, being shown as connected and located at a considerable distance above with said shaft or pole by suitable bolts e. the lower end of the shaft, said slot having at The shaft member'has an abutment d2, which one side a notch in which the narrow end of receives against it the end of the shaft B, and 'the spring enters and is held in locked posibetween said abutment and the external part 9o 4o tion. In practice the employment of a fasof the eye d said shaft member hasa neck d3, tening extended below the shaft member is which is straddled bya bail or loop f, having objectionable, because it is liable 'to be bent at one end ears f. (See Fig. 4.) The neck or broken off by a blow, and the employment d3 has a seat g, provided with agroove, which of a fastening having an open slot is unsafe, is entered by the ears of the loop when the 95 for any blow to knock the spring from the coupling is in its operative position,(see Figs. slot frees the coupling. Further, by locating 1 and 2,) and between said seat and the eye ol the fastening at a point on the shaft member the neck has opposite cast-off pockets g', in above the inner end of the shaft necessitates which the ears of the bail or loop may enter a long spring, and to enable'the spring to enwhen the coupling is in its inoperative posiloo 5o ter the notch referred to it was reduced in' tion. (See Eig. 3.) The bail or loop has width and weakened. In my improved couppivotally connected with ita short stiE spring h by, as herein shown, bending the end of the spring to embrace part of the bail or loop. The other end of the spring h has fixed to it a wedge h2 of usual construction, said wedge being interposed between the stud d and the inner face of the eye d', as shown in Fig. 2, when the coupling is in its operative position.

To detach the coupling, itis only necessary to pinch the neck and spring to thus relax the downward pressure ot' the Spring on the bail, when the ears of the bail may be slipped laterally from the seat and enter the pockets, and thereafter the spring h may be engaged and the wedge be Withdrawn from the position Fig. 2, the spring and Wedge dropping, asin Fig. 3, but being held connected with the shaft member by the bail or loop. With the Wedge removed the shaft member may be lifted from its engagement with the stud d and the shaft, detached from the carriage, may be set aside.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Lei ters Patent, is-

l. In a coupling of the class described, an axle member and a shaft member, said members being provided with an interlocking stud and eye, a wedge, a spring constituting the sole support for said wedge in both its operative and inoperative positions, and a bail loosely sustained by and movable on the shaft member to sustain said spring and Wedge in said positions.

2. In a coupling of the class described, a shaft member having an eye and a neck, said neck being provided with a seat and also pockets, combined with a spring, and a bail with which said spring is connected, said bail having a part embracing said neck and sustained by said seat to hold the wedge in operative position, and movable on the neck to engage the pockets when the wedge is in its inoperative position.

3. In a coupling of the class described, a shaft member having an eye and a neck, an axle member having a stud to be engaged by said eye, a wedge, a bail loosely embracing said neck of the shaftinember, the said neck being provided with a seat and with pockets, the said bail being bodily movable on the neck into either the seat or the pockets, and a spring connecting said bail and wedge to sustain the Wedge from the bail in both operative and inoperative position.

In testimony whereof 'I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two su bscribing witnesses.

v EUGENE CHILDS.

Witnesses:

GEO. W. GREGORY, EDITH M. STODDARD. 

